I'm aware the Chavin culture was a thing but i'm a bit unclear if they were an urban society or not and am having a hard time findiing information about them.
For that matter, i'm not that informed on any of the cultures I mentioned (I'm more of a Mesoamerica guy), and while i'm decently sure that the Moche, Wari, and Tiwanku were urban, I don't know how urban, and i'm unsure if they were actual state soceities or not (I'm sort of just assumiing they are, given the complexity of sites like Huaca de la luna); and i've seen Caral compared to GΓΆbekli Tepe or Pueblo bonito, so i'm not even certan if it was an urban site/city or not.
The depiction of Romulan culture has been widespread and varied throughout all the Treks, and in a way that at first appears strange and schizophrenic - how is the Romulan Captain in Balance of Terror consistent with Cmdr Tomalak in TNG, and their wonderfully nuanced depiction in Picard? (whatever you say about the strangeness of the AI plot, the fleshing out of Romulan culture in that series was beautiful and I rate Picard very highly because of it.)
Yes yes, cultures in real life aren't monocultural - you could hardly say that even different parts of the United States have the same culture, let alone people from different countries - but there are some shared values amongst those cultures.
I believe I have hit upon the Romulans' - kinship. The shared Romulan value amongst all Romulan cultures is the very strong concept of kinship. It explains a great deal of just about every Romulan and their actions you ever come across in all of Trek, just as the honour based society (with all that entails, both in breach and observance) is with Klingons. It's great that because of the individual personalities of each Romulan we see, that this concept is explored (I hate monocultural depictions of species in Trek even though it's rife with them.)
The Romulan Captain considers Kirk a friend, or someone he can relate to, as all Captains do - he is a Starship captain, in a bond of captaincy. This is why Cmdr Tomalak tolerates Picard throughout TNG (with a different personality.) Many Romulan concepts in Picard now make a lot of sense - friends and family know where your real front door is, outsiders don't. Laris and Zhaban treat Picard as family - so he has their undying loyalty. The Qowat Milat take the view that everyone is family, so truth and friendship is extended to everyone. The Romulan state itself is a proxy family for all Romulans - with all that entails, which means that you wouldn't mind if your family knew where you were all the time, right? It's even the big source of unification (whether genuine or fake) with Vulcan. Vulcans are kin, and so even though they have exiled Romulans and caused no end of grief to them, Romulans are willing to deal with them.
If there is no apparent kinship, Romulans are culturally disposed to dislike and distrust that person. This is why Vreenak is an asshole - he doesn't consider anyone he deals with as kin. That's why the Tal Shiar is so hated amongst the military, and why the civilian authorities don't trust th
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